Did You Know

• Did you know that the diamond is the hardest natural substance found on earth?

• Did you know that quartz is one of the most common minerals on Earth?

• Did you know that marble forms from metamorphosed carbonate rock, most usually limestone?

• Did you know that basalt is the most common rock on Earth?

• Did you know that breccia is a rock composed of generally large, sharp fragments cemented together?

• Did you know feldspars make up more than 50% of the Earth's crust?

• Did you know the first recorded use of turquoise dates back to 5000 BC in Mesopotamia, where people used the gemstone to make beads?

• Did you know lapis lazuli is treasured for its rich blue color and is often used in jewelry? Did you also know that ancient Egyptians used powdered lapis lazuli as eye shadow?

• Did you know jade because of it's toughness has been used for many cultural things like hammers, fish hooks, and stone axes.

• Did you know that rubies are one of the most popular gemstones today.

• Did you know that the first geologist on the moon was Harrison Schmitt who was part of the Apollo 17 mission? From the rock samples he collected, scientists have been able to learn many things about the moon.

• Did you know that the Earth is approximately 4.8 billion years old?

• Did you know that gold is so soft and easily worked that you could roll an ounce of it into a hair-thin wire 50 miles long?

• Did you know that the biggest pure-gold nugget was found in Australia in 1869 and weighed 156 pounds?

• Did you know that platinum is so rare that two million pounds of ore may contain only one pound of metal?

• Did you know that geodes are dull balls of igneous or sedimentary rock on the outside, but contain beautiful crystals on the inside?

• Did you know that Silver is used to kill bacteria in water purification systems?

• Did you know that the Taj Mahal built between 1632 and 1654 in India is made entirely out of marble?

• Did you know that Lithium is used in high energy batteries for use in computers and electric car propulsion?

Saco Valley Gem and Mineral Club:  3^rd Thursday of each month at the

Albany, NH Town Hall – 7:00 PM

Keene: 1^st Saturday of each month at Keene State College, Bldg. 18, Keene, NH – 7:00 PM

Nashua: Last Wednesday of each month at the Nashua public Library, Court St., Nashua, NH in the downstairs Theater Room – 7:00 PM

North Shore (MA): 3^rd Friday of each month, St. Paul Episcopal Church, Washington St., Peabody, MA – 7:30 PM

Boston Mineral Club: 1^st Tuesday of each month, Harvard University Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA – 7:30 PM

Southeastern NH Mineral Club: 2^nd Wednesday of each month, St John’s Methodist Church, 28 Cataract Ave., Dover, NH – 7:00 PM